


Feathering the Nest

by Bonfoi



Series: the original The Silver Snitch stories [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Mpreg, One Shot, Romance, TSS, The Silver Snitch, written in 2005
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-07-30
Updated: 2005-07-30
Packaged: 2017-11-21 08:09:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/595475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bonfoi/pseuds/Bonfoi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Really, he wouldn’t have noticed except that Hedwig had started coming in mornings without anything to deliver. It was almost as if she were waiting, and it didn’t take more than a day or two for Harry to see his owl, his feathered friend, was…what was that word?<br/><b>Challenge:</b>   Response to Loui's Bengal Eagle Owl Challenge as it was issued at the original The Silver Snitch (full challenge inside.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feathering the Nest

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Loui](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Loui).



> >   
>  _Loui's challenge #1:_
>> 
>> _I got to see a Bird of Prey exhibition today at a Medieval Weekend I attended (2005?) and got my picture taken holding an absolutely gorgeous Bengal Eagle Owl called Billy._
>> 
>> _My challenge is to write a fic - ideally a one-shot story but it is up to you - that has one of the members of Slytherin owning a (you guessed it *g*) Bengal Eagle Owl._
>> 
>> _This owl is a true Slytherin owl and therefore detests Hedwig. Unfortunately for the aforementioned owl, his owner is rather partial to Harry Potter and gets sent to him with letters, gifts etc. etc._
>> 
>> _Over the course of Harry's seventh year a romance must also be kindled between Hedwig and the Slytherin owl._
>> 
>> _Fluffier and/or sillier the better. A nice little romantic piece... anyone?_
>> 
>> _Please note I would prefer Draco but wouldn't be averse to seeing Blaise or Severus as Harry's other half._
>> 
>> _I have no idea of course if a romance between two different owl species like that is possible... for the purposes of the challenge – let us just assume it is. *g*_   
> 

**Genre:** Oneshot, Romance, Humor, Fluff  
 **Warnings:** Sexual Content, Mention of MPREG, OOC-ness, Major Fluff  
 **A/N:** Originally Published: 07/30/2005 at The Silver Snitch

§¤§₪ §¤§₪ §¤§₪ §¤§₪ §¤§₪ §¤§₪ §¤§₪ §¤§₪ §¤§₪ §¤§₪

**  
_ Disclaimer:_   
** The world of Harry Potter, its characters and settings are the copyrighted works of J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., her publishing companies and affiliates. No profit was made from the writing of this story nor was any malice intended in any way, shape or form to the author or the actors/actresses who so brilliantly have brought them to life.

This author is not responsible for underage readers. Please observe the ratings, warnings, and age of legal consent for your country.

* * *

Harry didn’t know what was wrong, but, Hedwig wasn’t acting quite like herself. She was always following a dark brown and black owl with the reddest eyes he’d ever seen outside of Tom Riddle’s; Hermione said it was a Bengal Eagle Owl. A very temperamental, very protective, and very much **not** a Gryffindor’s owl.

He never saw the owl delivering to one person. It just flew over the Slytherin table like he’d heard World War Two dive bombers had strafed the decks of carriers; a fast, steep dive, a flick of those wicked talons, and then the scroll was away. Deliveries were always just as the whole table was getting up for the first class of the day. So many bodies were in the way, he never had a chance to see who grabbed the parchment.

Really, he wouldn’t have noticed except that Hedwig had started coming in mornings without anything to deliver. It was almost as if she were waiting, and it didn’t take more than a day or two for Harry to see his owl, his feathered friend, was…what was that word? _Oh, pining!_ The poor thing was pining for the showy prat of an owl!

Now, if Hedwig had been a girl, he could see her sighing over a tall, dark and handsome boy. It seemed to fit since the colors of the show-off would look even more striking if they were next to her snowy-white feathers. She flew circles around every owl but this one; when he was around, she was cooing and preening like Malfoy in front of a mirror! Well, Harry didn’t know if he cooed, but, he sure as hell preened…a lot!

Staring across the Great Hall a month after the Bengal Eagle Owl had begun its ‘strafing runs’, Harry missed his mouth with his loaded fork. He’d finally caught sight of the person getting the deliveries!

* * *

The school owlery was quiet after sunset. It was a comforting place when one wanted to reflect. The soft fluttering of wings, the scritch-scratch of claws on the shadowy perches, the occasional clacking of a beak, all of it made a soothing background for just…thinking, or daydreaming.

He had to smile at the antics of two of the owls. A Snowy Owl was, well, flirting with his Bengal Eagle Owl, Icarus. She snuggled under his wing after she’d hopped onto his perch. No, Icarus didn’t look too unhappy with the owl nestled next to him; if a bird could look relaxed, his owl did it in spades. 

His eyes crinkled as he smirked to himself. He wished he could find someone who wanted to snuggle with him; he was so lonely now. The world had changed so much in the past year: Potter had been taken from the school by some rogue Death-Eaters-in-training and deposited in the Dark Lord’s hands, but, true to his luck, he’d escaped. His life had been turned upside down by that one act; that pain in his arse had shown how ineffectual He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named really was.

A snort escaped him; powerful dark lord, his ass! The incompetent leader of a doomed movement no longer had the use of one side of his body because of a gawky, four-eyed-boy. The boy who held Draco’s heart in those calloused hands…If he only knew how much he meant to him, and his future.

* * *

Insomnia and nightmares had driven Harry out into the silent halls of the castle. Secure under his invisibility cloak, he took a deep breath. Ever since those wanna-be’s had grabbed him, he’d felt Voldemort’s hysterical anger in his head.

Climbing toward the owlery, wanting to soak up the soothing atmosphere, Harry was still silent. He’d learned years ago how to muffle his steps, and now he did it without thinking. Which is how he found himself almost face-to-face with the owner of the mysterious Bengal.

Instinct tried to keep him from stepping forward into that body, but, it couldn’t fight inertia. Momentum carried him into the unknowing arms of…

**::Epilogue::**

Nine months later, Hedwig and Icarus were the proud parents of two chicks, both speckled white on black and brown, with amber-red eyes. Hidden in the rafters of their home, Icarus, Hedwig, and the chicks, Zephyr and Amber, ruffled their feathers.

Both of them had proven themselves carrying messages during the last months of the war. Their chicks wouldn’t have to worry about losing tail-feathers from a misfired curse or having to duck through the grasping nasty hands of Death Eaters.

Their owners had also come together that long ago night. If owls could chuckle, Hedwig would do it most of the time! Humans could be strange when they were mating! In fact, they were doing that…mating thing again! She curled her downy head under her wing with an avian chortle.

“Harry, to what do I owe this loving attention?” Thin lips quirked into a trademark smirk, which metamorphosed into a soft look that so many were still surprised to see. Harry had dragged him up to their owlery, only this one was so different from the one at Hogwarts, where they’d often meet before the war.

The perches – only ten, with two ever being used on a regular basis – weren’t the only things in the circular stone room besides owls. The two leather chairs, spelled to repel any ‘owl dropping accidents’ were set off to the side, a low table with a lamp between them. The lamp was an antique from home that Harry had thought particularly fitting for the new manor; it looked like an actual owl perch complete with resident owl getting ready for take-off.

“It’s our anniversary, you git!” A scarred hand thrust a thin package under his nose. Using the quick reflexes that had saved them both many times, Draco grabbed Harry’s scarred hand and placed a reverent kiss on the back of it; Harry had taken a burning curse meant for him one sunny afternoon. Even wounded with magical fire, Potter never stopped fighting until reinforcements showed up.

Listening to their owls rustle as they settled in for the night, and the soft chirps of the chicks, Draco felt a rush of peace. For two years, they’d talked, argued, and fallen even more in love with each other. The pale hand not holding the package reached up to finger the thin scar behind his right ear. Aunt Bellatrix hadn’t liked it when he’d told of his imminent wedding to the man who’d kick her grotesque leader’s ass.

The moonlight on the leaded panes of the window drew his pale blue eyes. Yet another thing to add to the changes; using so much magic in the last battles had taken something out of him. The silvery grey of his eyes had transmuted to an icy blue, much like that of an iceberg’s hidden depth. Harry often teased him that he’d melted his heart and this was the result.

“Well, open it up! I spent a month practically hyperventilating over it…” his breath hitched. _Just what had his husband gotten him?_

Quirking a pale eyebrow, Draco sat down in his favorite leather chair and slowly ripped the paper. He loved tormenting Harry like this! Then, he looked down at the uncovered plaque in his hands.

His eyes flew up to his husband’s, wide and shining. ‘World’s Best Father’ was carved into ebony wood. “Har…Harry…Is this…I…Oh, Merlin!” he breathed out.

A smirking Harry Malfoy was a strange sight, but, after all these years together, something had to rub off. “You have two more months of a skinny me to love and hug, then there will be a definite rounding of my boyish figure!” his husband laughed.

“I couldn’t let the owls have all the fun, Daddy. In seven months or so, you’ll have your own chicks to coo over.” In the blink of an eye, Draco was wrapped around his life, his dream-come-true. Wondering hands brushed over the abdomen where his child would grow.

“I’m so glad you came to the owlery that night, Harry…So very, very glad!” he murmured against his lover’s lips. 

Glinting eyes, partially hidden in the owlery shadows, shared a rare look of understanding. The chicks would have their own wizards soon; now, if the humans would just go somewhere else to do that…mating thing!

_~~~ Comments, like rain in the desert, are greatly appreciated.  
Thank you for reading. ~~~_


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